Hallandale Housing Agency Moves Closer To The People

HALLANDALE -- Paintbrushes in hand, a crew of teen-agers gives a new look to the offices of an agency working to give a new look to the older, blighted section of the city.

Part of the Hallandale Community Development Corp.`s efforts included moving from its City Hall location to offices in Godmother`s Nursery School on Foster Road.

Reeta Nielly Mills, executive director of the agency that helps develop low- cost housing for first-time homebuyers, explained the reason for the move.

``A lot of people don`t want to deal with the bureaucratic system and that`s what City Hall represents to them,`` Mills said. ``We service northwest Hallandale and wanted to be part of the area. Where we are now will be more comfortable for people to come by.``

To make the offices even more comfortable, the offices and the nursery school are undergoing $100,000 worth of renovations. A classroom and an office have been added to the school. In the coming months, new floors and walls also will be put in the building.

Private donations and federal Community Development Block Grant money are financing the project.

Fresh splashes of beige and red paint are now being applied to the exterior of the building by a group of teen-agers in the Broward Employment and Training Administration program, known as BETA. The program gives teen-agers, many of them drop-outs, training in skills such as painting and plumbing, so they can go on to apprenticeship programs.

Seven teen-agers started working on the nursery school a week ago, earning about $4 an hour for their efforts, said Kevin Cregan, assistant executive director of BETA.

The agency`s sole full-time employee is Mills. But, eventually, an assistant director, a secretary, a maintenance worker and a field worker will be hired.

The agency is in the process of building new homes in northwest Hallandale for first-time homeowners who, otherwise, would not be able to afford them. The first two houses were completed in May. Construction will begin in the winter on 10 more houses.

A $127,000 federal grant last year and a $135,000 federal grant next year will finance the project.